Nexus 7 Verizon certification held up by Google and Asus

Those who have been patiently waiting to use their 2013 Nexus 7 tablets with Verizon's LTE will probably have to stretch that patience a lot longer. Verizon is now practically passing the buck to Google and Asus for an almost indefinite delay in resolving issues with the latest Nexus tablet and the carrier's LTE network.

It seems that Nexus and Verizon just don't mix well. With the exception of the Galaxy Nexus, almost all Nexus devices are nowhere to be found on the carrier's shelves. Even the newly unveiled Nexus 5 smartphone won't be making it to Big Red, opting instead to work with Google on other unidentified "set of projects". But even before this latest disappointing news, trouble was already brewing for Verizon when it revealed that the 2013 model of the Nexus 7 cannot be activated on its fast LTE network because the device has not yet passed its certification tests.

Like one bad news piled on top of another, Verizon is now saying that this certification process is currently on hold. The reason is that, during the tests, Verizon, Google, and Asus, who manufactured the tablet, discovered a critical system issue that would have caused the two partners to put in more work than necessary on the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean OS currently on the device. Instead, Google and Asus requested that Verizon suspend certification until Android 4.4 KitKat is pushed to the tablet.

Presuming that Android 4.4 comes to the Nexus 7 in just a few weeks, allowing a grace period for Verizon's own testing would leave users hanging for a couple of weeks more, which may actually be a generous estimate. Although the Nexus 7 will likely, or hopefully, pass Verizon's certification eventually, the carrier's general attitude towards Google's flagship Android devices will surely leave a mark on the carrier's reputation.